General Anime Discussion

So yesterday I finished watching Nagi no Asukara/Nagi Asu: A Lull in the Sea and I enjoyed it. It was beautifully animated and I liked how it tackled the theme of change (specifically changes in relationships and environment) and how it affects everyone. Not to mention, the OST is amazing, especially the OPs and EDs. I donā€™t know if I can say itā€™s one of my favorites, but at the same time Iā€™m glad I got to see it.

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Not sure if I should post here or in currently airing but I guess they arenā€™t airing anymore soā€¦
For winter 2018 I only finished two anime but they were both brilliant anime in my opinion. They were Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho and Violet Evergarden. I highly recommend both series. I like them because they have very human characters. They donā€™t always have clear motivations but their outlook on the challenges the face always change. Itā€™s really interesting to see all these characters develop over time. The music for both series is really really good as well. Iā€™ve been addicted to almost all of the vocal songs for both series. Overall, both series easily established themselves in my top 10 of all time so I highly recommend them if you havenā€™t already seen them.

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Iā€™m the type of person who gained an interest in visual novels because of my love of books and reading, not because of a love of anime. Now I have been trying too look for anime series but I have no interest in shonen type shows. Can someone recommend some good anime for me to watch that is not shonen?

Thatā€™s kinda broad. I almost never watch shounen stuff so Iā€™m sure I can recommend something to you. What kind of stuff are you looking for? Romance? Drama? Slice of life? Action? Ecchi (which I wouldnā€™t be able to help you with)? Comedy? Or maybe a certain art style or studio? Or maybe just something that we really like? Or Key adaptations? Or vn adaptations (in which case thereā€™s a very small amount that are good)? Anyways you can kinda try to narrow your scope or Iā€™d recommend one of the two I mentioned above your post.

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Thereā€™s literally thousands of anime that are good and that arenā€™t from shounen mags. Itā€™s a vague criteria to recommend for, especially since anything can run in a shounen mag nowadays.

Since you like books, you may like some of the works that focus on or are heavily referential to literature. Bungaki Shoujo and Mawaru Penguindrum are respectively true to those two categories. Some of the tales within Kino no Tabi are very much of the same appeal as topics found in books, being that it was originally a book.The movies Harmonie and Eve no Jikan would probably be good to watch too.

Aside from that, hereā€™s some generic recommendations:
Usagi Drop, Kawaisou, Plastic Memories, Kaiba, Kowarekake no Orgel, Hourou Musuko, Haibane Renmei.

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Tuturu! :notes:

Just seen the first episode of Steins;Gate 0, now as with the VN it makes ahem, zero sense if you havenā€™t seen the complete original story. It looks pretty promising although they have changed it from the start of the VN - I guess it makes a bit more sense to re-introduce characters and tease a little about new ones. Honestly thereā€™s not much to get over-excited about but itā€™s a solid start without having quite the mystery and atmosphere of the original opening.

Much remains to be seen of course as to how they manage the, er, divergences, which is going to be trickier than the original which could be dealt with in a linear fashion. Even now, I want the bluray boxset, I donā€™t know if I can watch the whole season online but Iā€™ll try!

ā€œLegal loli, for the win!ā€

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Iā€™m in such a bind with this :confounded:
I wanna watch it but I wanna play the VN first which comes out on Steam, May 8th and I got no money to buy itā€¦

In my latest belated venture into anime, just watched Ghost in the Shell (1995) and 2.0 Innocence. The only thing I knew about it before was not to watch the Hollywood remake. As with certain VNs itā€™s the complex ā€œwhat is it to be a humanā€ musings on identity and self consciousness that I enjoyed as well as the general atmosphere - some of the dialogue free scenes are to me much stronger than the action sequences and quite visually poetic.

When I first heard the main theme I thought ā€œWhat the hellā€¦ā€ then it suddenly reminded me of the Trio Bulgarka on Kate Bushā€™s ā€˜The Sensual Worldā€™ and I love it.

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My second-favorite anime! You should watch Stand Alone Complex if you liked the movie, and if you enjoy the themes check out Blade Runner and Deus Ex.

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Yep, someone did tell me about Stand Alone Complex - so I tried the movies first. The series seems hard to find on DVD boxset here though (some available but iffy transfer quality apparently).

And yes Bladerunner (Directorā€™s Cut) is IMNSHO amongst the greatest movies ever made. I do want to try the Deus Ex series of games at some point, also.

Andā€¦have now seen Steins;Gate 0 second episode, I have to admit to being tremendously biased and canā€™t be very objective about it, thought it was great . It concentrates on some newer characters and shortens things quite quickly to get to the ā€œreunionā€ but it gets everything across just fine for me.

Shut your trap Kurisutina!

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I need some help. I have some extra money and would like to purchase some anime. However, Iā€™m having some trouble deciding which one I should buy. Can I get some opinions?

  • Nichijou
  • Azumanga Daioh
  • Lucky Star OVA
  • Hyouka Part One
  • Hyouka Part Two
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Seasons 1 and 2
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi-Chan Suzumiya & Nyoron
  • The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan
  • Pet Girl of Sakurasou
  • AIR: The Motion Picture
  • Little Busters! Collection 2
  • Little Busters! Refrain
  • Little Busters EX
  • K-On! Season 1 Complete Collection
  • K-On! Season 2 Collection 1
  • K-On! Season 2 Collection 2
  • K-On! The Movie
  • Squid Girl
  • My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
  • My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Too!
  • Golden Time Collection 1
  • Golden Time Collection 2

0 voters

Iā€™ll check the results on Tuesday. Keep in mind I own a DVD player and use Amazon. Thanks in advance for the help.

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Steins;Gate 0 episode 3: it feels like quite a slow episode with not much happening, but cuts out a lot of fairly mundane stuff from the VN. Nicely sets up the idea of this false ā€œcomfort zoneā€. Still think the acid test is going to be how they handle the complexity of the various routes in the VN, but I like this too much!

Daga otoko da

EDIT:- have to add this as an edit rather than new post as itā€™s soon after the lastā€¦

Just finished watching the series Death Note. As long as you just allow the central concept of this ā€œwhat ifā€¦ā€ found this very compelling and intriguing with a ton of moral questions raised. First two thirds or so very good but then goes downhill a bit with new characters that arenā€™t very well developed and one-dimensional. I felt that the story ended in the right place in the right way. Liked the art and VA - music is very good (Lightā€™s theme has hints of Tubular Bells?) although the theme music is definitely a matter of tasteā€¦

Shout out to Misa Amane who manages to be simultaneously ultra annoying/disturbed/cute, and Misaā€™s song which was very unexpected in placement and although short is a stand-out moment for me.

Glad I invested in this box set anyway. Next up for my cash Iā€™m not sure, maybe Darker Than Black?

EDIT 2 - well I guess I have to edit againā€¦

Steins;Gate 0 episode 4: I think this is the last time Iā€™ll do a quickie review on a single episode as Iā€™ll just be repeating myself. This is the first episode that I found a bit disappointing, not because of what was left in/out but what was so drastically shortened.

VN SPOILERS

Well, firstly we havenā€™t had the indications from the VN about the ā€œepidemicā€ of encephalitis and Reading Steiner through the media and Fubuki. And the first really important one involving Okarinā€™s jump to a WW3 ravaged Japan timeline was shortened to about 2 minutes compared to a couple of hours in the VN. I think that long section of the VN is actually very powerful and itā€™s the first time we really see whatā€™s at stake with Okarinā€™s refusal to use the Time Machine again.

Now i know that you couldnā€™t realistically spend an entire episode or two on that section, but itā€™s the first very good argument for reading the VN first IMO. And as itā€™s now out on Steam there are no when/if/maybe concerns about a long wait.

And to add that it can make a big difference for VN readers as to which routes they took on the first important choices that lead to different scenarios already.

Otherwise it was good but not exceptional, we have an important new character and one returning. Itā€™s possible that the story structure has to be changed for the anime and we may see more of that shortened section inserted elsewhere, idk. Still very solid adaptation on the whole though. Anyway I want to give it a few more episodes before I share my thoughts again because things may be addressed WRT how they handle divergences, and maybe some will have read through the VN by then!

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Steins; Gate 0 continues to be a pretty consistently good conversion and Iā€™ve now worked out what they are doing ( not a spoiler - for those familiar with the VN we are in ā€˜Orbital Eclipseā€™ section as of episodes 5 & 6). The format tends to be slice of life before ending with a cliffhanger at the moment, we have plenty of humour and Daru is as funny as ever.

Spoilered ā€œGentleman Pervert momentā€ in case you want to see it in the anime/VN first

Daru_shot

EDITED TO ADD: Make sure you watch the post-credits sequences if you are following this: EP 7 :exploding_head:

EDITED AGAIN! :- OK well Episode 8 has some new content that isnā€™t in the VN - and itā€™s terrific!,Really expands on an event that happens in the original S;G penultimate episode too. Now I must try and keep quiet here until the whole series endsā€¦

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My familiarity with the Fate series amounts to just a few clips of the anime, some memes, and a Saber account on Twitter. I have decided to watch the series in its entirety. I looked up online to see in which order I should watch it. The first I decided to watch is Fate/Zero, so I went to Amazon to find a DVD of it. I found one offer of Season 1 at $87, I said ā€œScrew thatā€ and went to eBay and found this listing:

Should I get this, get the one on Amazon, or start somewhere else?

I bought the Fate/Zero 2 part blu-ray set from Amazon (UK) and it was nothing like that expensive, about Ā£50 for the two parts together which is about US$67. The two parts on DVD here (eps 1 - 25) totals about US$53 so US$87 for one season is way overpriced. I canā€™t imagine why it is so much more expensive on Amazon there?!

That supplier has very good feedback so provided you are sure the DVD plays in your region ( supplier is in Malaysia but it says itā€™s region free) and donā€™t mind the extra waitā€¦

Smart choice on watching zero first to be honest. Itā€™s supposed to be a prequel that came out after the original but in my opinion watching zero first gives everything that happens in Stay night a lot more weight and meaning for a way more enjoyable experience.

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It has been a very long time since Iā€™ve watched anime, even season 2 of Hidamari Sketch was pretty much stalled even though it would have likely been a good idea to continue watching it.

I finally own a copy of Your Nameā€¦but that movie is likely to rest on the shelf for a while because Little Busters feels more important right now. :yahaha: Planetarian will join it someday.

Looking to start Gundam Seed pretty soon and to get back to Hidamari Sketch, but it looks like there wonā€™t be many more anime being added to the damage collection anytime soon. March Comes in Like a Lion looks like it could be AWESOME, and there have been lots of good things said about Violet Evergarden, but for now that might be all and that might be a good thing since there is quite a lot left to watch like all of Slayers, all of FMA, and all of Yu Yu Hakusho and they donā€™t watch themselves.

Hope everyone is having fun or enjoying what they are watching! :happy:

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So thereā€™s this anime that came out recently titled How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord. I had absolutely no interest in it, as it looked like trash. Then, via random YouTube recommendation, I found out that one of the characters was named Emile, so watched the video to see this character. It turned out to be this clown.

And I said, ā€œWhyyyyyyyy? Why would someone make this?ā€

Still not watching the show, by the way.

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Oh look, itā€™s the next ecchi title that seems to sell well as a light novel too!

Yaaaay!

(of course the LN is likely far better but the point still stands)

Honestly, this is why I really only watch newer anime if someone suggests it to me and they love it (Violet Evergarden, Your Lie) or itā€™s more of an anime or movie series that I already like (Non Non Biyori, GitS).

Iā€™ve just finished watching Darker then Black S1 and enjoyed it: interesting scenario, good characters, atmosphere and a great soundtrack. Itā€™s about 50% action and 50% character moments, and Iā€™m not a massive fan of fights so this was a good mix for me.

The structure of the story is mainly based on two-parters although there is a longer arc as well. Mostly serious with some humour.

The lead character has an interesting struggle between living with his ā€œpowerā€ and being caught between those who are like him and ordinary humans. The other characters fill out the story well, and minor character Kiko is one of the funniest parody characters Iā€™ve yet seen. And for those who adore cats it has a black talking cat in the main cast :cat:

So until I can find S2 (which may not be so good I hear) at a low price Iā€™m now open to recommendations of further series along the lines of Sci Fi / Fantasy like GitS / Fate / Death Note without too much concentration on fights and preferably without mecha!

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